


space is fleeting and love is vast

by vulcanistics



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten-centric, M/M, Prosthetics, Reunions, knowledge of star trek not required, wayv is basically cirque du soleil but in space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcanistics/pseuds/vulcanistics
Summary: The last time Ten saw Johnny, Ten’s shuttle was pulling away from the Academy docks, and Johnny stood on the platform, waving at him. That was four years ago.Ten had kissed him goodbye; they never spoke about it.//Four years after leaving Starfleet, Ten meets Johnny again.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 10
Kudos: 95
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	space is fleeting and love is vast

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by [Outer Space I by Alexandrian](https://alexandrian.bandcamp.com/track/outer-space-i). Beta read by [sunbeamhyuckiee](https://twitter.com/sunbeamhyuckiee).

1

“That should fix the lag in your knee,” Dejun announces, holding up his PADD to Ten. A projected hologram of his knee joint spins above the screen. Ten leans forward to examine it.

“Did you figure out what was wrong?” Ten asks, swiping the rendering of his knee aside to read through the changes Dejun made in the coding. 

Dejun grimaces, shoulders drooping. “No, I'm not sure why you felt a lag during today's performance.” He frowns down at the screen. “It was fine when I scanned you in the morning."

“It's okay, baby,” Ten smiles, ruffling Dejun's hair. “It was towards the end of the show, it wasn’t too bad. It’s better now.” 

“I ran a system diagnostics on it but nothing showed up. I’ll forward the report to you,” Dejun remarks, keeping aside his PADD to put his hand on Ten’s knee. 

Dejun traces the locking pattern over the knee—his fingers looping up and down and across the metal before crooking a finger into the side of Ten’s knee and pushing down. The synthetic skin slides into place over his knee with a click. 

“You should get it checked out at a Starfleet medical centre.” 

“We're stationed here for some time. I'll see where the nearest one is located and go tomorrow.” 

Ten picks up his communicator to make a note of it when the device vibrates in his hand with a message from Kun. 

_The USS Limitless was at the show._

Ten sits up straighter, the black robe around his shoulders falling to pool at his elbows. The Limitless was supposed to be in a different galactic quadrant.

His communicator vibrates again. 

_Johnny is coming to the green room._

Ten blinks and rereads Kun’s messages. Distantly, he registers Dejun asking him if he’s okay. 

There's a knock on the door. Dejun jumps to his feet to answer it. Ten’s heart hammers in his chest.

Dejun opens the door and Johnny steps in.

2

Ten remembers—

The weight of Johnny’s jacket draped over Ten’s shoulders as they quizzed each other on warp theory. Johnny’s laughter. Johnny’s smile the day they met. The smell of Romulan ale Johnny smuggled into their dorm room. Johnny looking at him as Taeyong begins the Kobayashi Maru simulation. The expression on Johnny's face when Ten told him that he was leaving Starfleet. 

Ten had a plan. 

He was going to graduate top of his class. Johnny and he would be assigned to the same spaceship. Ten would be in communications—working on developing the Universal Translator further to enable accuracy in discerning emotional nuance. And Johnny—Johnny would be at the helm of the ship; the bright gold of his uniform standing out against the darkness of space. 

In the quiet of their room, when Johnny had already fallen asleep, Ten dreamt of a future where Johnny was the captain of his own ship, and Ten was his First Officer. 

That had been the dream. 

Until it wasn't. 

It crumbled on its own, drifting away from Ten without him realising. 

Halfway through his final semester, during Professor Kwon's lecture on comparative intergalactic linguistics, Ten looked down at his screen, devoid of notes, and came to the sinking realisation that he was adrift in space. 

He carried it with him—a wound festering within his chest. 

A week before their finals, three weeks before successful graduates received their ship assignments, Ten took Johnny to the space dock. They stood together, leaning against the railing, watching the spaceships coming together—part by part, panel by panel, a dazzling blur of white, gold and blue sparks. 

Ten told him about how he could no longer imagine himself living life on a spaceship, working for Starfleet. Ten remembers the look in Johnny's eyes—the gradual realisation, the brief mourning and the warm acceptance.

“Okay,” Johnny said, taking his hand and squeezing it, “What do you want to do?”

Ten laughed, blinking back tears as he pitched himself into Johnny’s arms, “I don't know.”

Johnny stroked his back, hugged him tighter to his chest, “It’s okay, you’ll figure it out.”

In the end, he did figure it out. 

It had come to him in the form of Qian Kun.

Kun found him at their graduation ceremony and told him he was not planning on accepting the lectureship the Academy had offered him. Ten had stared at him, aghast, because if anyone from their cohort was suited for the Academy, it was Kun. 

“Starfleet is your dream.” He said.

Kun snorted at that. “No, it’s not. Flying is. Flying and—” Kun paused, casting a sidelong look at Ten. “Flying and singing. Not Starfleet.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Ten asked, his mouth dry

“I remember you dancing,” Kun said, looking at their classmates laughing and talking around them. “When I think of you, I don't remember our bickering. I remember you dancing.”

In their third year at the Academy, Kun had needed to find Ten to complete a project for their diplomacy class. He had found Ten in a conference hall, waiting for Doyoung and Taeyong to finish their argument about the paper Doyoung had presented earlier that day at an interplanetary conference. Ten had been on the stage, humming an old Earth song as his friends bickered to the side. 

Kun had stood at the door and watched Ten spin across the stage. 

“You moved like you were a meteor shower,” Kun said, eyes distant as he recollected the memory. 

The Visions started like that: Ten and Kun standing with their graduating class. Thinking about space. Thinking about flying. Dreaming about performing. The rest of their troupe—Sicheng, Yukhei, Dejun, Kunhang and Yangyang—would come later.

3

The last time Ten saw Johnny, Ten’s shuttle was pulling away from the Academy docks, and Johnny stood on the platform, waving at him. That was four years ago. 

Ten had kissed him goodbye; they never spoke about it. 

Johnny enters the green room and Ten remembers the press of Johnny’s lips against his.

He feels bare under the weight of Johnny’s gaze. He is half-dressed in the sparkling green skin-tight blouse from his performance, a pair of black shorts and a silk dressing robe pulled around him. Johnny stands at the door in the neatly pressed grey uniform of Starfleet officials. The Starfleet badge shines on his chest. 

“Johnny,” Ten breathes out.

"Ten," Johnny says, and a smile blooms on his face.

Dejun bows in greeting, “Commander Suh. It is an honour.”

Johnny turns to Dejun and smiles, “Hologram videos do not do justice to your voice.” 

“You've watched us,” Dejun gapes at Johnny. 

“Only in videos, never in person, not until today. Your voice is lovely” 

From their messages and the brief video conversations they managed to make time for, Ten knew that Johnny—knew that his friends—watched recordings of The Visions on the intergalactic network, and yet, to be in front of Johnny and to hear him say it in person makes his eyes sting. 

The panicked look Dejun throws over his shoulders at him pulls him back into the moment. 

“Thank you, Commander.” Dejun squeaks. “I'm going to go...find Kun.”

“He's in the foyer with your troupe and Captain Lee,” Johnny helpfully supplies.

“Right. Captain Lee. Thank you,” Dejun says, cheeks flushing pink as he scuttles out of the room.

Ten cannot help but giggle into his fist, “I think you broke him.” 

“I only told him the truth,” Johnny says, a delighted twinkle dancing in his eyes. He winks at Ten, “You were beautiful out there as well.” 

Ten ducks his face down, cheeks heating up at the compliment. 

Four years since he’s been within touching distance of Johnny and nothing has changed. Johnny still affects him. His fingers twitch at his side. He wants to touch. He fiddles with the ties of his silk robe instead.

“Thank you.” Ten mumbles, scrunching up his nose. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission on Rakosa V.” 

Johnny shrugs, walking across the room to sit in the chair beside Ten. “Emergency stop. Admiral Lee wanted to meet Taeyong to discuss his proposal for a new training exercise in place of the Kobayashi Maru.

“Taemin-hyung?”

Johnny raises an eyebrow, “You address him with more familiarity than one would of an old professor.”

“He was my favourite professor, you know that,” Ten smirks. “But he's one of our patrons. He appreciates art and performance and he loves what we do. So, he gives us money to make sure we can continue doing that.”

“The Federation—”

“The Federation is not in the business of providing patronage to travelling performance troupes. Exploration, research, scientific inquiry, and diplomacy—that's what they're more interested in, right?” 

It’s a rhetorical question, so he continues, “Admiral Lee provides us with funding. It's not Starfleet's resources, so they don't care what he does.”

“I’m glad, you deserve it,” Johnny says sincerely. He pauses and Ten’s eyes linger on the way Johnny’s biting his bottom lip. He’s nervous. Ten cocks his head to the side and waits. 

Johnny continues, “Ten, we’re going to be in orbit a couple of days more. Taeyong thought it would be nice if your troupe spent some time with us. You have a week off before your next show, right?”

“You know our schedule,” Ten states, incredulous.

Johnny frowns, “Ten, I buy tickets for every show of yours in the hope that one day my ship will be on the same planet as where you’re performing.”

Ten's heart feels like a planet imploding in on itself. There's a matter-of-factness to Johnny's tone as though it's the most obvious thing in the universe; like after eight years of friendship Ten should know these things by now. 

His communicator vibrates against his thigh and Ten glances at Kun's message.

_Captain Lee invited us to lodge on the Limitless for two days. What do you want to do?_

Ten already knows his answer.

4

Ten drags his fingers against the cold blue glow of the walls of the Limitless. The ship hums under the pads of his fingers. 

Compared to the Visions' current spaceship—a passenger ship Yukhei had managed to procure from a scrapyard-planet and which they had rebuilt and re-engineered themselves—the Limitless is luxurious.

The ship is quiet. Johnny explains that most of the crew had opted for shore leave while Taeyong completes his meetings with Admiral Lee. Johnny offers to give them a tour after showing them to their shared quarters but they are exhausted and everyone, except for Ten, opts to sleep. 

Johnny leads Ten through the corridors, showing him the locations to go alongside all the stories and incidents he’s already told him about. 

They're approaching a curve when Johnny's gait slows down.

“This is where most of our labs are located,” Johnny says, gesturing at the row of doors before them.

One of the doors swooshes open and someone steps out. 

The boy looks up from his PADD, his face brightening when he sees Johnny, “Hyung, you’re back! How was the–” 

The words die in Mark’s throat, his eyes widening at the sight of Ten. He lets his PADD fall as he runs to them. 

Ten finds himself with an armful of Mark Lee. He buries his face in the crook of Mark’s neck. 

“Ten-hyung! You’re here!” Mark exclaims. 

“Mark,” Ten murmurs. 

He remembers sitting with Mark, Donghyuck and Jisung in the Academy’s student centre and reading their paper on theoretical time travel and thinking they were some of the brightest minds he’d ever encountered. 

Mark pulls away from the hug, grinning, “Dude, I wanted to come for the show but Johnny only had two tickets. We had to have a draw to decide who would get the other ticket. Everyone wanted to see you.”

Ten bites down on the inside of his cheek and blinks furiously against the tears gathering in his eyes. Four years of travelling and performing across the galaxy, holding on to his friendships, but only through screens and holograms, keeping his distance because he was scared what seeing them in their ship would do to him—and here is Mark Lee, taking a sledgehammer to his walls.

5

After Yuta and Jaehyun finish looking over his knee in the medical lab, Ten makes his way back to the room he’s sharing with Sicheng and Yangyang. The two of them are already asleep in bed.

One quick sonic shower later, Ten climbs on to the bed and crawls in between Sicheng and Yangyang. Yangyang grumbles in his sleep, shifting away to create more space for Ten. Sicheng stirs, blearily opening his eyes. 

“Winwin,” Ten mumbles, pushing his head against Sicheng’s shoulder.

Sicheng's voice is rough with sleep. “What happened?”

“Do you ever regret resigning your commission?”

Sicheng is quiet before he replies, “No, why would I? Do you regret not continuing with Starfleet?”

He should have expected that.

“No, why would I?” Ten repeats Sicheng's words back to him. 

And it is not a lie. Except, he wonders sometimes.

In a different future, he is an officer of the Federation. In a different future, Johnny lives two doors away from him. He’s not entire light-years or planetary systems or galaxies away.

In that future, he tells Johnny he loves him.

He falls asleep, head pillowed against Sicheng's shoulder, and dreams of Johnny.

6

It is Yukhei who suggests they put on a show for the crew of the Limitless as a thank you for hosting them. 

The approval from Taeyong comes with an offer to set up their stage in the shuttle bay.

The performance happens a day later.

It is exhilarating. Yangyang and Kunhang break through white clouds. The wings on their back whir quietly as they fall to the ground before an illusion of a pink sky. Yukhei catches them both, wrapping his hands around their ankles before throwing them back up into the air. He jumps after them. The propulsors in his shoes lift him into the air. Dejun walks on to the stage and sings—a dirge, a ballad, a celebration—his voice filling the shuttle bay. Kun stands in the sky, arms outstretched as flickers of light accompany his song. Sicheng glides across the stage with his dragons. The fans in his hands change with every turn.

Ten dances, spinning through the air, jumping from cloud to cloud as the rest of The Visions gather below him, their voices telling a story about dreams.

They are met with thunderous applause. Ten squeezes Yangyang and Sicheng's hands as they bow. Johnny is in the front row. He smiles at Ten and blows him a kiss.

After the stage has been dismantled, Ten slips away, leaving Yangyang and Dejun to talk to Renjun and Donghyuck about the technology behind Sicheng's dragons.

7

Ten finds Johnny sitting on the floor of the observatory deck, leaning against his arms as he looks out at the stars. Sliding the door open and stepping in, Ten realises that there's no officer on duty. It is just Johnny and him. 

He sits besides Johnny and rests his head against his shoulder. Johnny reaches for his hand.

“I have a confession to make,” Ten begins, smiling bitterly. “There's a reason we haven't seen each other in four years.”

“Yeah?”

“I schedule our performances. Not Kun, not Sicheng, I schedule them. I read the invitations, I check the locations, I contact planets. I decide where we go and where we don't go,” Ten exhales shakily. “I scheduled our performances to never coincide with where the Limitless was. You weren't supposed to be anywhere near this planet.” 

“I know,” Johnny says after a moment of silence, rubbing his thumb against the back of Ten's hand. “It frustrated me that I was never on the same planet as you. I eventually realised it was intentional but I could not figure out why you were doing it. I thought it was because you didn't want to talk about the kiss.” 

Ten freezes. Four years. He lifts his head to stare at Johnny. 

“That too.” Ten mumbles, swallowing thickly. “But more than that, I was scared. I miss you, I miss everyone, and I was scared of seeing you again. I walked away and I thought it would be too hard to see what never was. To see the life I left behind. The people I left.” 

“Is it?”

Ten smiles, “Johnny, I have no regrets, I am happy but—sometimes it is hard. Especially when I miss you.” 

“Ten,” Johnny nudges Ten to face him. His eyes are warm and gentle as he lifts his hand to cup Ten’s jaw.

“I don't think I ever said this to you but I'm happy you left Starfleet. You would have been fine working for Starfleet because you're good at whatever you do but you belong on that stage. Watching you perform feels like looking at the sun. You radiate light.”

Ten feels himself shudder as Johnny drags his thumb against his bottom lip. Johnny leans in and Ten’s eyes flutter shut. 

Kissing Johnny feels like coming home. 

They should talk about this, Ten thinks.

“Is this our thing now? Us. Kissing every time I leave. Kissing good-bye,” Ten murmurs, breaking away from the kiss.

“Don't run away from me this time. I do not want to wait four years to kiss you again, baby," Johnny says, pulling Ten into his lap. "Your next show is on Casperia Prime, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I'll see you there then.” 

Ten does not know how they are going to work things out but sitting in Johnny’s lap, Ten thinks that maybe the conviction in Johnny’s voice is enough. He closes his eyes, loops his hands around Johnny's neck and allows himself to hope. 

“And if you can’t make it, for whatever reason," Ten says, smiling into the kiss. "I’ll make sure the next show is somewhere where you are.” 

**Author's Note:**

> PADD stands for Personal Access Display Device, Rakosa V and Casperia Prime are planets in the Star Trek universe, and Taemin probably schemed to make sure that the Limitless and the Visions were both on the same planet. 
> 
> Please do leave kudos/comments if you enjoyed this fic! Thank you for reading!


End file.
